A casting notice for Fox's X-Men television pilot suggests at least some of the action will be set during World War II.
A call for extras posted last week by Legacy Casting calls for "SS Guards" for an untitled Marvel pilot filming in Dallas, the location of the X-Men drama, currently referred to as "Gifted."
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While it's unknown what role these "SS Guards" might play, it seems safe to assume they're indeed meant to be Schutzstaffel, the Nazi paramilitary group responsible for running concentration and extermination camps during World War II. The SS were also responsible for enforcing Nazi Germany's racial policies.
The news may relate to the recent announcement that Emma Dumont will play Lorna Dane, otherwise known as Polaris. In Marvel Comics mythology, Polaris is the daughter of Magneto, an Auschwitz survivor, which could mean the pilot will reference his backstory. If so, that wouldn't be the first time the Fox franchise has shown Auschwitz: The concentration camp appeared in the first "X-Men" film, "X-Men: First Class" and "X-Men: Age of Apocalypse."
Introduced 1968 in "The X-Men" #49, Polaris long suspected her true parentage, but it wasn't confirmed until 2003's "Uncanny X-Men" #431 that Magneto was indeed her father.
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Developed by "Burn Notice" creator Matt Nix, the X-Men pilot follows two ordinary parents (played by Amy Acker and Stephen Moyer) who discover their children possess extraordinary powers. Forced to go on the run from the government, they join an underground network of mutants and must fight for their survival.
In addition to Dumont's Lorna Dane, "Gifted" will also feature Jamie Chung as Marvel mutant Blink, and, if we're to believe a label on a head shot, Blair Redford as for X-Man Thunderbird. The series is also said to include the mutant-hunting Sentinel robots.
A joint production of Fox and Marvel Television, "Gifted" also stars Sean Teale as Marcos Diaz and Coby Bell as Jace Turner. The pilot is directed by Bryan Singer, who serves as executive producer alongside Nix, Lauren Shuler Donner, Simon Kinberg, Jeph Loeb and Jim Chory.
(via ScreenRant, Omega Underground)